CCI Work Highlighted by White House Report

Yesterday, the White House rolled out its plan to effectively protect intellectual property rights for the future. The effort emphasizes a multifaceted approach that includes a combination of governmental and voluntary private sector initiatives. The report, which can be read in full here, importantly highlights voluntary initiatives as a key element of any successful effort to reduce intellectual property infringement in the digital world and to educate the public about the importance of the protection of intellectual property rights.

As part of the broader strategy, the White House also announced the opening of a public comment period to gather feedback on the voluntary private sector initiatives currently underway. The comments, which will be coordinated by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, will seek to develop “best practices” for protecting intellectual property and will also be used to better understand how the content community affects the economy.

At the Center for Copyright Information (CCI), we are pleased that the Copyright Alert System (CAS) is a part of the White House strategy moving forward and are also looking forward to engaging in the public dialogue and comment period around voluntary systems and best practices.

In response to yesterday’s announcements, CCI issued the following public statement:

“Today, the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel released her report on intellectual property enforcement. In the report, Ms. Espinel emphasizes, as she has before, that voluntary initiatives must be a key element of any successful effort to reduce intellectual property infringement in the digital world and to educate the public about the importance of the protection of intellectual property rights. At the Center for Copyright Information (CCI), we are pleased that the Copyright Alert System (CAS) was highlighted as an important example of voluntary efforts in the private sector to protect intellectual property. Indeed, the CAS, which launched earlier this year, marks the first major initiative between the content industry and large Internet Service Providers to both provide consumers the tools they need to find movies, TV shows and music legally and to reduce piracy. We look forward to working with the Administration on this important issue.”